MIAMI — Coast Guard Cutter Raymond Evans’ crew transferred 18 Haitian migrants to the Bahamas, June 26, following an interdiction, Thursday, approximately one mile east of Lake Worth Inlet, the Coast Guard 7th District said in a release.  

Palm Beach Sheriff officers reported to Sector Miami watchstanders, June 24, a 27-foot vessel was located boating without lights at night. They were stopped for safety concerns and it was discovered the vessel was overloaded with 18 Haitians and one Bahamian.  

The Bahamian national was brought ashore for further questioning by Homeland Security Investigations. 

Customs and Border Protection Air and Marine Operations law enforcement officers took custody of the vessel.  

“The ventures are dangerous and can often lead to casualties,” said Lt. Cmdr. Jacob McMillian, Coast Guard Liaison officer, Bahamas. “Seas are unpredictable and when you’re traveling on a vessel that isn’t sea worthy, you should expect the unexpected.” 

The Coast Guard interdicted approximately 262 Haitian migrants in fiscal year 2021, which began Oct. 1, 2020, compared to 418 Haitian migrants in fiscal year 2020, and 932 in fiscal year 2019. These numbers represent the total number of at-sea interdictions, landings and disruptions in the Florida Straits, Caribbean Sea and Atlantic Ocean. 

Once aboard a Coast Guard cutter, all migrants receive food, water, shelter and basic medical attention. Throughout the interdiction, Coast Guard crew members were equipped with personal protective equipment to minimize potential exposure to any possible case of COVID-19. 

ROLLING MEADOWS, Ill. — Northrop Grumman Corp. will install more life-saving Large Aircraft Infrared Countermeasure (LAIRCM) systems on U.S. and international fixed-wing and rotary wing aircraft under a $146 million order from the U.S. Air Force, the company said in a June 25 release. 

The award is part of an existing indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity contract to Northrop Grumman for LAIRCM upgrades, modifications and installations on a wide range of Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps aircraft, including the C-17, C-5, C-130J, P-8, CH-53K, KC-46 and platforms operated by international customers. 

“Northrop Grumman has been protecting U.S. Air Force platforms from missile threats for more than 25 years,” said Bob Gough, vice president, navigation, targeting and survivability at Northrop Grumman. “We remain steadfast in our commitment to delivering advanced aircraft survivability systems that help ensure aircrews make it home safely.” 

Northrop Grumman’s family of countermeasure systems such as LAIRCM and the new Common Infrared Countermeasure system are installed on more than 1,500 aircraft of 85 different types, providing spherical protection by detecting, tracking and jamming incoming infrared threats. The most advanced aircraft survivability equipment available, it defeats threats by directing a high-intensity laser beam into the eye of the fast-moving missile’s infrared seeker. 

ARLINGTON, Va. — U.S. combatant commanders around the globe will be the first to get data handling assistance from the Pentagon’s new artificial intelligence (AI) initiative, because they work in the toughest decision-making environments, the head of the Joint Artificial Intelligence Center says.

“The hard work of creating successful environments and implementing AI in the dirty, dangerous, challenged warfighting environments right at the edge is what really matters,” Marine Corps Lt. Gen. Michael Groen told reporters at a Pentagon press briefing June 24.

Transforming the Defense Department (DoD) from a platform-centric organization, where each military service has its own technology silo, into one integrating AI, machine learning and other technologies at scale to stay ahead of peer competitors “is truly the challenge of a generation,” said Groen, director of the Joint Artificial Intelligence Center (JAIC).

To accelerate progress on the Joint All-Domain Command and Control (JADC2) strategy DoD launched an AI and Data Acceleration (ADA) Initiative, Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks announced June 21 at the DoD Artificial Intelligence Symposium and Tech Exchange.

JADC2 aims to connect sensors from all of the services into a single network, sharing intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance data to enable faster decision making. The change is needed because in a digital-driven world, decisions in future conflicts with degraded environments will have to be made swiftly, perhaps within seconds, say Pentagon officials.

In a supporting memo, Hicks stated the ADA Initiative will support Combatant Commands in “integrating and scaling ongoing and proven capabilities used in real-world operations, simulations, experiments and demonstrations.” The goal is to rapidly advance data and AI-dependent concepts, like JADC2, to the ADA initiative and generate capabilities through a series of experiments and exercises — each one advancing l learning a step further.

“A key part of an AI-ready department is a strong data foundation,” Hicks told the symposium in a virtual appearance. “Data enables the creation of algorithmic models, and, with the right data, we are able to take concepts and ideas and turn them into reality,” she added.

The initiative is creating operational data teams that will be forward-deployed within 30 days to the data office at all 11 combatant commands. The teams will catalog, manage and automate data feeds to assist warfighters in making their data visible, accessible, understandable, linked, trustworthy, interoperable and secure.

DoD will build on that with additional “flyaway teams of technical experts” to help combatant commands streamline and automate workflows through the integration of AI. The expert teams, expected to be dispatched within 60 to 90 days, will support continuous experimentation to improve commanders’ ability to act with speed and precision.

The combatant commanders are getting the operational data teams “because they have their own exercise environments, but they [also] have real decision environments, really the toughest decision environments of anybody, and yet they don’t often have a lot of tools to deal with those kinds of things,” Groen said.

JOHNSTOWN, PENN., June 25, 2021 – In collaboration with the U.S. Army, Kongsberg Defence and Aerospace and the Javelin Joint Venture (JJV) conducted a four-shot, multi-platform Javelin demonstration at the U.S. Army Redstone Test Center in Alabama on May 25, 2021. Three different vehicles were each equipped with different configurations of the Kongsberg Common Remotely Operated Weapon Station-Javelin (CROWS-J) and Protector RS6 Remote Weapon Station (RWS).

“Kongsberg has solidified its position as the remote weapon station of choice for Javelin deployment across a broad range of platforms. Our remote weapon stations are powerful force multipliers, especially given that we’re delivering a Multi-User Multi-Station [MUMS] capability to facilitate advanced target sharing and cooperative engagement,” said Jason Toepfer, director for Army Business Development (U.S.) at Kongsberg Defence and Aerospace. “Our continued investments in the architecture and platforms overall maximize the U.S. military’s current inventory, training and provisioning while providing groundbreaking advancements in capability.”

During the demonstration, three different Kongsberg remote weapon station configurations on three unique ground platforms fired Javelin, successfully engaging targets each time. Using QinetiQ North America’s Robotic Combat Vehicle-Light (RCV-L), Kongsberg executed a fully remote firing of Javelin using CROWS Tech Refresh control components. This was a first for the Army’s official RCV-L platform and demonstrated Tech Refresh’s backwards compatibility with legacy CROWS systems.

Another firing demonstrated Kongsberg’s capability to fire Javelin on a 4×4 platform from a previously qualified and fielded system within the inventory on an 8×8 platform – the same Kongsberg RWS that is currently fielded with Stryker brigades in Germany.

Finally, Kongsberg continued to showcase its Protector RS6 (30x113mm) platform by successfully firing javelin from a lightweight, Ground Mobility Vehicle. The RS6 RWS is the system selected by the U.S. Marine Corps for the Marine Air Defense Integrated System program. This Javelin firing is one of several conducted from this station and further demonstrates the inherent flexibility of the RS6 design, allowing users to address a broad range of threats and operational needs – C-UAS, SHORAD, ATGM, Maneuver Support, Manned/Unmanned Teaming – from a single system.

With more than 20,000 systems delivered worldwide and 14 years of CROWS experience, Kongsberg will continue to support Soldiers with new systems, capabilities and features meeting tomorrow’s requirements while maintaining, supporting and keeping up to date a wide range of CROWS variants and support equipment. All CROWS and RWS systems are produced in the Kongsberg Johnstown, Pennsylvania, facility. Continuing the execution of this contract secures more than 3,000 jobs, both directly and through the Kongsberg U.S. supply chain. With systems sold to 26 nations, Kongsberg is the world-leading provider of remote weapon stations.

ARLINGTON, Va. — The Marine Corps’ top officer told Congress that the Corps requires three key capabilities to bring to pass the expeditionary force needed to counter threats of the future and support the naval and joint force. Those capabilities and modernizations and others can be paid for with internal budget reallocations, he said. 

“First is long-range precision fires for sea denial and sea control,” said Gen. David Berger, commandant of the Marine Corps, testifying 24 June before the Defense subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee. “For several years we’ve proven that our existing HIMARS [High-Mobility Artillery Rocket System] vehicles can hold naval vessels at risk with ground-based anti-ship missiles. Through aggressive experimentation, we have further enhanced that capability. 

“This year, we have successfully launched the [RGM-184] Naval Strike Missile from a modified Joint Light Tactical Vehicle, hitting a target at sea underway,” Berger said. “This system, which we call the Navy-Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System — or NMESIS — is exactly the capability the combatant commanders are calling for to enhance their deterrence posture.” 

Unmanned intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) is the second of the key capabilities. 

“In 2020, we began a transition to a mixed capability of long-range ship and ground-based unmanned aerial systems to include the MQ-9 Reaper,” Berger said. “The Reaper is a proven capability that will significantly expand our organic ISR and enable us to better support fleet and joint operations, including anti-submarine operations. 

“We’ve also initiated a partnership with industry to develop a future, autonomous, long-range unmanned surface vessel,” he said. “That is going to significantly improve the reconnaissance capability of our Marine expeditionary units, or MEUs.” 

The Corps also is investing in loitering munitions.  

“These swarming aerial munitions, which employ automatic target recognition, have proven exceptionally lethal in recent global conflicts, most recently in Europe,” Berger said. “Our own tests have also demonstrated this technology to be effective, with five of five successful shots during testing. We plan to equip our infantry and reconnaissance Marines with this loitering capability, mounting those munitions on both ground vehicles and long-range unmanned surface vessels. We will make a final decision on vendors this year.” 

Berger added that in the current budget climate, the Corps will pay for its Force Design 2030 initiatives by retiring some legacy systems and shifting the savings to new programs. 

“We will self-fund our modernization,” he said. “To ensure the success of this approach, I will ask for your support in reducing the total procurement of some platforms commensurate with the recent reductions in our end-strength.  

“The fact is, our Marine Corps is significantly smaller than it was a decade ago, about 24,000 Marines smaller,” he said. “That means we won’t need as many ground vehicles; we won’t need as many aircraft as we thought we did when initial procurement decisions were made decades ago. With the reductions outlined in our Force Design report, I believe we will have sufficient resources to create the modern capabilities required for competition, deterrence and crisis response without a further reduction in our end-strength. 

“That approach, however, relies 100 percent on this committee’s confidence on allowing the Marine Corps to retain and reallocate the internal resources we generate through end-strength reductions, cutting legacy platforms and right-sizing programs of record for new capabilities like the F-35 [strike fighter], the CH-53K [heavy-lift helicopter] and the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle,” he said.  

ARLINGTON, Va. — Leonardo DRS Inc.’s Airborne & Intelligence Systems business division was awarded a contract from Cubic Mission and Performance Solutions (CMPS), a division of Cubic Corporation, to deliver additional P5 Combat Training Systems (P5CTS) for the F-35 Lightning II, Leonardo announced in a June 24 release.  

Under the contract Leonardo DRS will deliver two more production lots of its P5CTS internal subsystems for Lockheed Martin’s F-35 Air Combat Maneuvering Instrumentation (ACMI) system.  

“We are honored to provide our advanced and high-performing air combat training technologies to the U.S. military services and air forces of allied countries so their pilots can effectively train to achieve the highest levels of proficiency in air combat,” said Larry Ezell, vice president and general manager of the Leonardo DRS Airborne & Intelligence Systems business unit. 

Military services are increasingly moving toward multi-domain operations, and since 2013, Leonardo DRS has delivered more than 779 of its P5CTS internal subsystems for the F-35 to provide training to counter and keep ahead of growing global adversarial threats.  

The P5CTS internal subsystem is unlike traditional external training pods used on legacy 4th generation fighter aircraft. The internal subsystem supports 5th generation and 4th generation combat training operations.

“Leonardo DRS’ unmatched ability to integrate ACMI systems onto fighter aircraft, either externally in pods, or internally in the F-35 continues to provide the warfighter the information they need to maximize the value of their training for current and future combat,” said Ezell. “Through disciplined engineering and manufacturing processes, along with in-depth understanding of the conditions ACMI systems are required to perform under, we are able deliver the vital training systems to the F-35 for these production lots, as well as future F-35 requirements.”     

The air combat systems are being delivered to the U.S. Air Force, U.S. Navy and international partner nations.   

These training systems are designed to address emerging needs for customers as global threats evolve. The P5CTS is part of the Leonardo DRS advanced sensor technology portfolio which has an extensive installed base across the U.S. military. 

ARLINGTON, Va. – The Coast Guard’s senior admiral made his case before Congress for an increased presence in the Arctic and Antarctic and reaffirmed the need for more heavy icebreakers. 

“We absolutely need to be up in the Arctic and down in the Antarctic on a more persistent basis than we are today,” said Adm. Karl Schultz, commandant of the Coast Guard, testifying June 23 before the House Committee on Homeland Security. “The great power competition is alive and well there [in the Arctic]. China had operated off the Alaskan Arctic for six of the last nine to 12 years. Russia is building an increasingly large fleet of icebreakers that intends to use the Northern Sea Route, potentially as a toll route. 

“There will be freedom-of-navigation issues in the future, and we will have the organic domestic capability to press into that and project our sovereign interests,” Schultz said. 

He said the Coast Guard is sending the medium icebreaker USCGC Healy to the Arctic this summer for some scientific research for about 30 days, followed by a transit of the Northwest Passage over the north coast of Canada. Some Canadian researchers, British sailors and others will be on board the Healy for the voyage. Current plans call for a port call in Greenland and then return to Seattle via the Panama Canal. 

Shultz also pointed out that Coast Guard medium-endurance cutters have exercised with Dutch and French forces in the Arctic region. 

The Coast Guard has assigned an attaché to Copenhagen, Denmark, the country with sovereignty over Greenland. 

“We’re trying to make sure we’re touching the entire Arctic Council membership,” he said.  

The Coast Guard has only one operational heavy icebreaker, USCGC Polar Star. Congress has provided funding for the first two Polar Security Cutters (PSCs), which will be heavy icebreakers. A contract was awarded to VT Halter in 2019 for the first PSC. 

“We are woefully underinvested in high-latitude capability and capacity in terms of icebreakers,” Schultz said. “We haven’t built a heavy icebreaker in more than 45 years. … Four to six heavy icebreakers are what we really need, and we need some medium breakers. 

ARLINGTON, Va. — Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III announced Jan. 23 that the president has nominated Rear Adm. Daniel W. Dwyer for appointment to the rank of vice admiral and assignment as commander, 2nd Fleet/commander, Joint Forces Command Norfolk, Norfolk, Virginia.  

Dwyer is currently serving as director, Plans and Policy, J5, United States Cyber Command, Fort Meade, Maryland. If confirmed by the Senate, he would succeed Vice Adm. Andrew L. Lewis. 

Dwyer is a native of Alameda, California, and a 1988 graduate of the California Maritime Academy where he earned a Bachelor of Science in Marine Transportation and a third mate’s license in the Merchant Marine. He is also a graduate of the U.S. Naval War College, Newport Rhode Island, and holds a Master’s in Foreign Affairs and Strategic Studies, and a Master’s in Computer Information Science. 
 
Dwyer received his Wings of Gold in March 1992 with orders to fly the F/A-18C in Lemoore, California. 
 
He has previously commanded Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 27; Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) Asadabad, Kunar Province, Afghanistan; VFA-106; Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 8; and CVW 17. As a flag officer, Dwyer commanded the Theodore Roosevelt Carrier Strike Group (CSG 9) and was the 36th chief of Naval Air Training (CNATRA). 
 
Other at sea and ashore assignments include two tours with VFA-151, Topgun Class 97-1; F/A-18 Tactics instructor at Strike Fighter Weapons School Pacific Lemoore, California; Hornet air combat placement officer at Naval Personnel Command Millington, Tennessee; director, Regional Outreach Headquarters, Commander, International Security Assistance Force Kabul, Afghanistan; and director of Aviation Officer Distribution Naval Personnel Command Millington, Tennessee. 
 
As a flag officer Dwyer served as the chief of staff and assistant chief of staff for Strategy, Resources and Plans for Commander, U.S. Naval Forces Europe and U.S. Naval Forces Africa and for Commander, U.S. 6th Fleet in Naples, Italy. 
 
Dwyer assumed his current duties as the Director of Plans and Policy (J5) for U.S. Cyber Command in July 2020. 

Dwyer was the 1997 Commander Strike Fighter Wing Pacific Adm. Wesley McDonald Junior Officer of the Year and his personal decorations include the Legion of Merit, Bronze Star, Air Medal Strike/Flight, Combat Action Ribbon, Battle E (three awards) and has accumulated over 3,600 F/A-18 flight hours, and over 1,100 carrier arrested landings on 12 different aircraft carriers. 

LONDON — The United Kingdom’s Carrier Strike Group has joined the fight against Daesh, also known as ISIS, with F-35B Lightning II jets carrying out their very first combat missions from HMS Queen Elizabeth, the U.K. Ministry of Defence said in a June 22 release. 

Lightning IIs of the renowned 617 Squadron RAF (The Dambusters) carried out operational sorties for the first time from HMS Queen Elizabeth in support of Operation Shader and U.S. Operation Inherent Resolve. 

“The ability to operate from the sea with the most advanced fighter jets ever created is a significant moment in our history, offering reassurance to our allies and demonstrating the U.K.’s formidable air power to our adversaries,” Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said. “The Carrier Strike Group is a physical embodiment of global Britain and a show of international military strength that will deter anyone who seeks to undermine global security.” 

For the task group, which has spent previous weeks in the Mediterranean working with NATO allies and partners, it marks a change of emphasis. From exercises and international engagements, the Carrier Strike Group is now delivering its full might of naval and air power, putting the “strike” into Carrier Strike Group and contributing to the U.K.’s fight against Daesh — Operation Shader, which forms part of the global coalition against Daesh. 

“HMS Queen Elizabeth’s first missions against Daesh will be remembered as a significant moment in the 50-year lifespan of this ship,” said Commodore Steve Moorhouse, commander, United Kingdom Carrier Strike Group. “It also marks a new phase of our current deployment. To date we have delivered diplomatic influence on behalf of the U.K. through a series of exercises and engagements with our partners. Now we are ready to deliver the hard punch of maritime-based air power against a shared enemy. 

“The involvement of HMS Queen Elizabeth and her Air Wing in this campaign also sends a wider message,” Moorhouse said. “It demonstrates the speed and agility with which a U.K.-led Carrier Strike Group can inject fifth-generation combat power into any operation, anywhere in the world, thereby offering the British government, and our allies, true military and political choice.” 

CSG21, led by HMS Queen Elizabeth, is the largest concentration of maritime and air power to leave the United Kingdom in a generation and this is its first operational deployment, which is joint between the Royal Navy and Royal Air Force. 

“In an era of persistent competition, the carrier is already proving its worth. As the recent Integrated Review and Defence Command Paper underlined, our adversaries pose a growing threat to the international order and the values that underpin our security and prosperity,” the release said. 

There are 18 U.K. and U.S. F-35B jets on board HMS Queen Elizabeth, the largest number to ever sail the seas. The aircraft are next generation multi-role combat aircraft equipped with advanced sensors, mission systems and stealth technology. 

“The Lightning Force is once again in action against Daesh, this time flying from an aircraft carrier at sea, which marks the Royal Navy’s return to maritime strike operations for the first time since the Libya campaign a decade ago,” said Capt. James Blackmore, commander of the Carrier Air Wing. “With its fifth-generation capabilities, including outstanding situational awareness, the F-35B is the ideal aircraft to deliver precision strikes, which is exactly the kind of mission that 617 Squadron has been training for day after day, night after night, for these past few months. 

“This is also notable as the first combat mission flown by U.S. aircraft from a foreign carrier since HMS Victorious in the South Pacific in 1943,” Blackmore said. “The level of integration between Royal Navy, Royal Air Force and U.S. Marine Corps is truly seamless, and testament to how close we’ve become since we first embarked together last October.” 

ARLINGTON, Va. — Senators on the Senate Armed Services Committee zeroed in on two aspects of the Navy’s 2022 shipbuilding plans that would cost the nation more than $1 billion in contract penalties and lost savings because of reduced shipbuilding. 

The Navy’s 2022 budget calls for the procurement of only one Flight II Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer (DDG) instead of the two planned for that year under the class multi-year procurement plan with Huntington Ingalls Industries and General Dynamics Bath Iron Works. With the cut of one destroyer, the Navy would incur a $33 million penalty for the contract breach.   

Testifying before SASC June 22, Acting Navy Secretary Thomas Harker confirmed to Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, that the $33 million penalty would in fact be a result of building only one DDG in 2022. The second DDG is the top item on the Navy’s 2022 Unfunded Priority List and would stand a chance for funding if Congress decides to add funds to the Navy’s budget. 

King also pointed out the “chilling effect on investment” that contract breach would have on the shipbuilding industry, part of which, Bath Iron Works, is located in his home state, Maine.  

“The point I want to make about this is not only the lack of a destroyer but the impact that this decision has on the industrial base, not only in the immediate future in terms of how many people do you need to build the ships but also the principle of breaking a multi-year, I would argue, sends a shudder through the industrial base in terms of their investment,” King said. “If they’re going to make major hundred-million-dollar investments is shipbuilding capacity, and also in training of new shipbuilders, they have to have some confidence that there’s a stream of demand coming.” 

Adm. Mike Gilday, chief of naval operations, concurred. 

“It’s not lost on me the significant impact on the industrial base with decisions like this,” Gilday said.  

“The problem with this is you can’t turn the industrial base off and on,” King said. “If it goes down, you’re taking about welders going somewhere else, and in this economy, they’re going to go somewhere else.” 

Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Mississippi, in whose state is Ingalls Shipbuilding, which builds the Navy’s amphibious warfare ships, criticized Navy’s 2022 shipbuilding plan in failing to plan for a build up to a force of a required 31-ship amphibious ship force — including 10 amphibious assault ships and 21 amphibious platform dock ships (LPDs) — and that the number LPDs would only each 15 of the required 21 by 2027.  

Section 124 of the 2021 National Defense Authorization Act “provided the Navy with a mechanism to procure two more LPDs [under a multiple ship procurement] to fill this gap. If OSD executes this authority, it would save the taxpayers over $700 million,” Wicker said, addressing Marine Corps Commandant Gen David Berger. “General Berger, you have a need for more LPDs,” Wicker said. “Does the amphibious ship authority provided for you in Section 124 help you meet your warfighting requirement?” 

“It would do both parts of what you mentioned, senator, the warfighting requirement and it would save an estimated $722 million,” Berger said.   

“The fact is, we couldn’t afford it because somebody in the Office of Management and Budget sent word to the Pentagon that they weren’t going to give you enough money,” Wicker said.  

Wicker repeated Gilday’s statement at the hearing that “if we’re going to meet the challenge [of great power competition], we’re going to need a bigger Navy. 

“’Tis is a crying need that we’re going to have to meet,” Wicker said.